Tears of Blood
by cohen's gurl
Summary: This story follows a young wolf who is on the run after her owner, an elderly man, and her wolf family is killed by another large wolf. As she runs away, the police have evidence to believe that it was her who killed the man and the wolf family.


Obeya walked silently into the night. Her front left paw was still lame, her neck dripping with blood from the rope that hung heavily around her neck. She limped over into the woods and curled up under a dead uprooted tree. She closed her eyes and began to dream of being with her family once more.

It all began when Obeya's parents, Obsidian and Dusk, when they first met. Obeya was a wolf who had started out with the perfect life, but was shattered one day when then on, her whole life had changed…forever. Obsidian was her father, a witty, courageous wolf who had been found by an old retired professor, Dr. Lithin. Dr. Lithin was a poor man, who lived in what was probably the smallest house in all of Grenville. Grenville was a small town in Jackson, Mississippi not too far east from the Mississippi River. Dr. Lithin would every day go down to the old railroad station where his father, who had died when Dr. Lithin was only five years old worked and hoped Dr. Lithin would follow in his footsteps. Dr. Lithin's father had loved the railroad station as much as he loved his family. Now, the station was only some boards and pieces of metal scattered all around. Dr. Lithin was now seventy years old and when he was five, the whole railroad station had exploded from a tank of gasoline that had spilled. That day Dr. Lithin's father died as well as many other families' husbands and fathers, as well as sons.

Ever since, Dr. Lithin goes down to the station and sits down on an old bench that was just a piece of scrap wood placed on two cinder blocks. It was the bench that was in his father's office. Every day Dr. Lithin would go there, sit, and pray. He would pray to make sure that his family is doing well in heaven. His mom, who died of cancer when he turned twenty and his younger brother who died of small pox when he was only seven.

Like every other day, he went down, sat on the bench and started his prayers. While he was praying, he looked over, next to the woods and saw a hurt wolf. It was Obsidian, and he had been shot by a hunter who had mistaken him for a raccoon, leaving him to suffer. He had been shot in the leg and was just sprawled along the ground. When Dr. Lithin walked over to him, Obsidian didn't move, he knew that the old professor would help him. Dr. Lithin took him back to his house and nursed him back to health. When the day came to set him free, Obsidian didn't want to go. It was like Dr. Lithin knew he didn't want him to go and he then let Obsidian, who he named for the shiny, black coat that he had, which was, back then unusual for wolves, back into the house and set out his bowl, fresh full of food and they both sat down for dinner. Dr. Lithin cared so much, that he even let Obsidian dine at the table with him.

After a few years, Obsidian was out in the woods, like every day and then he'd come right back home. One day, he met Dusk, a beautiful wolf, who also was black but with a bit of white on the tip of her tail, like a fox. He would see her every day, she would also go see him and Dr. Lithin every day. One day, Dusk decided that she felt it was too dangerous out in the wild and wanted to be with Obsidian and Dr. Lithin who she became very attached to. So, Dr. Lithin took her in as part of the family and then they had Obeya.

Obeya was a special wolf. She was like her mother. All black but, instead of having white on her tip of her tail, like no other wolf before, she had red on the tips of her tail, ears, and on her feet. She looked as though she had blood on her. She was different from the other pups. She not only looked different but was the most courageous. They all got along with each other and loved to play all the time. Dr. Lithin really enjoyed having pups around because whenever he played with them, he felt like a kid again. He would get on the ground and pet them, sometimes, if he was feeling up to it, they would play a game of chase.

One night…it happened. It started out just like every other night. Dusk would put all the pups in bed after they had dinner and then Dr. Lithin would read the pups a story until they fell asleep. Obeya, of course, was the only one who stayed up to listen to the entire story before falling asleep. When Dr. Lithin finished the story, Obeya curled up with her siblings and fell asleep. Dusk and Obsidian would stay up with Dr. Lithin and would sleep on his bed once he would fall asleep. The pups bed was right next to Dr. Lithin's bed, so the two could be with their pups and Dr. Lithin at the same time. In the middle of the night, they all woke up to a terrifying awakening. A massive wolf with long, sharp teeth and as black as the professor's wolves, stood at the end of his bed, howling. It bared its teeth and then started to attack Dr. Lithin. Obsidian and Dusk had awoken and began to fight the wolf; blood spread as the fight went on. Dusk ran over to the pups and stood in front of their bed, guarding them from the immense wolf. But the wolf was too big; it wrapped its teeth around Obsidian's neck and threw him against the dresser, which was near the pups' bed. Dusk now approached the wolf as it headed for Dr. Lithin, he tried to get away and defend himself but he was too slow. Dusk jumped onto the wolf's back, but it didn't help. The wolf had killed Dr. Lithin, and now it was about to kill Dusk. She tried to run away from the wolf and get to her pups, but its claws scraped against her side and she fell to the floor. The wolf was now headed for the pups; Obeya looked up at the enormous wolf and noticed that it had blood dripping from its face. It had a slash through the middle of its face, where Dusk had attacked him. It bared its teeth and reached down to attack the pups. The pups scattered, Obeya hid under the dresser and the other pups ran around the room as the wolf chased them. It picked up a pup, now and then and would hurl them against the wall. Now only one pup remained, besides Obeya. It ran over to the dresser and tried to get under. Obeya pulled at the pup's ear to help him get under, but the wolf pulled its tail and flung it against the bed. Obeya laid down in silence, hoping that the wolf would not find her under the dresser. Within seconds, the wolf took off, out of the house and into the woods.

Obeya crawled out from under the dresser and looked around. She saw her family all sprawled on the ground, covered in blood. Everything was covered in blood, the dresser, the window, the bed sheets, everything. Obeya examined the wolves and Dr. Lithin, hoping that someone might still be alive. They were all dead; she cried and cried. Obeya wasn't sure what she could do. She got on the bed and rubbed herself against his shirt, just like a cat. As she did this, some of her fur stuck to the blood that was on his shirt. She then went under the dresser and tried to fall asleep. She hoped that it was all a nightmare and that she would wake up and see that her family was still alive. Her tears streamed down her face and landed on the ground into a puddle of tears. She awoke when she heard someone walk into the room. It was Sarah and Matt, volunteers at the retired homes. Every morning and every night they would come and check on Dr. Lithin and the wolves. They were the only friends that Dr. Lithin had besides the wolves.

"Oh my God! What happened!" Sarah screamed as she looked at the wolves and Dr. Lithin.

"I'll call the police!" Matt yelled as he ran into the next room and dialed 911. About fifteen minutes after the call, the police arrived with an ambulance.

"They are all dead. We inspected all of them and it was definitely a wolf that did this. I don't think that it was any of these wolves. Any chance of another wolf that he had did this, and just might've…taken off?" Sheriff Jones questioned.

"He only has two adult wolves, the others were pups." Matt said.

"How many wolf pups did you count?" Sarah asked.

"Six." Sheriff Jones replied.

"Where's the other one! C'mon Matt, we've got to find the other one!" Sarah yelled, running into the room and inspecting all the pups.

"We're missing Obeya!" Matt yelled as he inspected the last pup.

"Did you happen to see a pup with red on the tips of its ears, tail, and feet while you were searching?" Sarah asked, alarmed.

"No. These are the only ones. Did this pup seem aggressive in anyway? Or harmful?" Sheriff Jones pondered.

"No. Obeya was the sweetest of them all. She would never hurt anyone. Especially her own family." Sarah said.

"Besides, she's too little to do anything like this. This would have to have been a much bigger wolf. Not a year old pup!" Matt remarked with a sound of annoyance in his voice.

"Walker, I'd like you to do a search through the town. Search the houses, anyone that Dr. Lithin might have befriended, especially search the woods." Sheriff Jones spoke into his walkie talkie, refusing to listen to a word that Matt or Sarah said. "You are looking for a year old wolf that is all black with tips of red on its ears, feet, and tail."

"Copy that." The crackly voice, that of a man's, came out of the walkie talkie replied.

"Don't worry, we'll find that pup. I've found a sample of black fur that was on Dr. Lithin's shirt. If the pup matches, then I'm afraid we'll have to shoot it." Sheriff Jones replied.

"You can't do that!" Sarah shouted.

Once everyone left the room, Obeya came out from under the dresser. She knew that if she was found, she would be killed. She ran clumsily out of the room and then out of the house. She raced into the woods and didn't stop running. She ran for miles, not knowing where she was going, but she never gave up. She grew up, hiding when she heard a rustle of leaves; she grew up in a different place every day. She grew up into a large, beautiful wolf. It had been three years since it happened. Obeya wanted to go back. She wanted to be with her family again.

One day, Obeya decided, it was time to go home. She had to return to her homeland….but she couldn't. She had forgotten where she came from. She didn't remember where she lived because she had erased it from her memory. She was lost…without a family. Obeya decided she'd retrace her steps, she wouldn't rest until she was home once more. The days grew long as she lumbered through the forest, not stopping for anything. She wandered off from the woods and was now trekking through the tall mountains that stood in her way. She wondered if she had wandered off her path but she didn't stop to think about it.

It had been nine days since she had turned around to head home…it had taken her three years to get where she was now. Obeya decided to find a shortcut.

It had been a month since Obeya had started her journey home. She had now come to a town called 'Brookland'. Obeya's feet would blister with every step she took; she needed to rest. She found an empty box lying on the side of the dirt road and she curled up inside it. As she got in the box, it began to pour rain. She fell asleep, listening to the pitter patter the rain made as it hammered upon the cardboard box.

The next morning she was awoken to a woman who was walking along the side of the dirt road. She had a red checkered t-shirt and blue jeans on. She had hair the color of the road which was pulled back into a ponytail and tied with a ribbon to match her shirt. Her name was Millie Foster; she was a current resident of Brookland. She walked over to the card board box as she stared at Obeya who was trying to squeeze far back in the box so that she would be hidden. It was too late; Millie had spotted her and was now walking over to investigate what was in the box. When Millie crouched down to see Obeya, she stared at her with awe. "Well, aren't you the most beautiful creature I've ever seen. Come here sweetie." Millie reassured in a calming voice, "its okay, come to Millie."

Millie had taken Obeya in that day, to her house, which was right next to the box that Obeya had slept in the night before. Millie had reminded Obeya of Dr. Lithin; she was caring, nice, and loved all animals, especially wolves. Millie worked for the town's Animal Rescue Department, otherwise known as ARD. What Millie's job was, was to go around the town and look for injured or lost animals. She had taken in birds, foxes, rabbits, dogs, cats, wolves, deer, and hundreds of animals. She bonded with every one she ever saved, but the wolves were her favorite.

It had been eight months since Millie had taken Obeya in, she had looked through many books to figure out why Obeya had the red markings, but she never figured it out. Obeya would every day, go out with Millie and help her look for animals who needed rescuing. One early fall morning, they went near the edge of the forest to search for an injured rabbit that had hopped over that way only a few minutes ago. As they searched, Obeya was alert to a certain rustling in the woods. She could tell that there was something out there…and it wasn't an injured rabbit.

Obeya trotted over to Millie and pointed her nose towards the woods. She then nudged Millie away from the woods, knowing that Millie knew that whatever was out there…it wasn't safe. "It's okay, Obeya. We'll go home and maybe come back in a few hours. Whatever's in there should be gone soon." Millie reassured as they turned to walk back to the house.

Suddenly, a wolf sprung out of the woods and jumped on Millie's back. Obeya started to pull the tail of the wolf. The wolf reacted immediately by reaching its paw back and grazing Obeya's face with its jagged claws. Obeya screamed out in pain as she howled at the wolf. No sooner had she recognized that it was the same wolf that had killed Dr. Lithin and her family. She began fighting the wolf as Millie collapsed to the ground in pain. Obeya and the wolf fought for what seemed hours but turned out to be only five minutes before Samuel Golith, Millie's boss, came running over to them with a couple other residents. The wolf had given up and left just moments before they had all come to rescue Millie. As Sam raced over to them with the others, he began to shout to Obeya, "GO! GET OUT OF HERE!" the rest of them began to pick up stones and pitch them at Obeya, beating her as she ran into the woods.

As soon as they turned around to rush Millie to the town doctor, Obeya silently followed them, making sure that she wasn't seen. She would wait under the dumpster which was just outside Millie's window of her hospital bed. Every so often Obeya would look to see if the coast was clear and she'd then jump up onto the dumpster and look inside the window at Millie. It had been two days since the wolf had attacked Millie and Obeya. It was the third morning when Obeya woke up to a shocking surprise which scared her deeply.

Obeya opened her eyes and saw half darkness and half of the dirt road which was laid before the dumpster. She could not see out of her left eye! It was the eye that the wolf had scratched when Obeya tried to pull it off of Millie's back. Because of that wolf, she was half blind! Obeya then tried to crawl out from under the dumpster without hitting anything on her way out. Unfortunately, she was new to not being able to see out of her eye and bumped into everything that was to her left. She then jumped onto the dumpster and looked inside the window to see an empty bed. At first, Obeya was completely baffled, but no sooner did she realize what had happened. Millie must have died some time in the night. Obeya gazed though the frosty window; her tears fell from her face and down to the lid of the dumpster.

She then crawled under the dumpster and fell asleep. That night had been the longest night for Obeya since the night her family and Dr. Lithin died. She twisted and turned, trying to get comfortable…but it was no use, and the stinging that came from her eye pained her. She had only slept forty minutes that night; it had been morning when she awoke. She opened her one good eye and noticed that the town had seemed very quiet. Usually by then the people of the town were going about their day, but today was different. The only thing that could be heard was the wind that whistled around the town, knocking leaves from their branches as it flew by.

Obeya retreated from under the dumpster and hesitantly crawled out. She stood for a moment, turned her head back and forth, trying to figure out where everyone had gone. She heard a shuffle of feet behind her and no sooner was trying to free herself from a rope that had wrapped itself tightly around her neck. She struggled and threw her head back, but it was no use. The man that had caught her was Joseph Carter, Millie's old neighbor, he didn't mind Obeya, in fact he ignored her most of the time that he saw her, but he was very strong and was not about to loosen his hold of the rope. He dragged her to the animal rescue center, which was the place that Millie had worked at. He opened the door and yanked her into the front office. "I found the wolf that killed Millie." Joseph explained.

"Does it have red on its ears, feet, and tail?" the sheriff of the rescue shelter questioned.

"Yup. It was mighty hard to get her over here. I saw her crawling under the dumpster near the hospital and waited for her to fall asleep after you and the others chased her away from Millie." Joseph then pulled Obeya forward so that the sheriff could take a look at her.

"She's the one. I'll help you take her to one of the back cages." The sheriff cautiously walked past Obeya and helped reel her into the back room.

That day Obeya had spent the whole morning curled up in a small wire cage. There was nothing to lie on besides the cold cement floor. There were many cages in the back that were once filled with animals of all kinds. She looked down with her one good eye and recoiled as she noticed a fresh pool of blood on the cement. No sooner had she realized that it was her own blood, blood that had spilt from her neck as the rope slowly loosened at the knot. She curled up in the corner and slowly closed her eyes.

She had awoken about a couple hours later and could here the sheriff talking to Millie's neighbor. "We are going to be putting the beast down in a little while." The sheriff spoke quietly as he pulled out his gun.

"Are you sure? I mean, do you have to?" the man asked as his face grew a kind of sympathetic appearance. "Millie loved Obeya."

"That thing killed her; we have proof. We have no choice. She's just too dangerous." explained the sheriff.

Obeya panicked as she heard the words "putting down" and paced as she figured out how to get out. She halted as she noticed a small hole that was near the corner. Before, some animal must have somehow managed to tear a hole is the wire and get out. There was a heavy bag of bird seeds blocking the escape, but if she could push it away with her nose, she could attempt an escape.

Obeya waited until the sheriff and the man walked out of the room and shut the door before she planned her getaway. She walked over to the hole and began pushing, with her snout, the bag of bird seeds. No sooner did she realize that the bag was much heavier than she thought. She pushed vigorously harder when she heard footsteps and voices near the door. Inch by inch the bag moved farther away from the opening. When she heard the door creak open she shoved her body though the gap. It was a lot smaller than it looked, and the sharp wires pierced her skin like the needles on a porcupine. She heard the sheriff shout as she hustled out of the cage, which forced her into the bag of seeds which fell over and spread over the floor like ants at a picnic. He ran in the room, accompanied by the neighbor and tried to reach Obeya. Luckily, since the seeds were on the floor, Obeya managed to escape through the open door while the sheriff and man slipped on the seeds.

Obeya leaped over the gate that separated the waiting room from behind the desk, which caused her to twist her leg on the tile floor. She hobbled out of the sheriff's department and headed for the woods. She could hear the two men shouting behind her; firing the gunshots, just nearly missing her besides one that grazed her right ear. She made it deep into the woods and observed that the chase was at an end. She could just barely hear the sheriff say, "There's no way that thing will last the night. Might as well let nature take its course." They then turned and headed back for the station.

Obeya limped under the darkness of the trees, and what soon became the darkness of night. Looking around in the shadows she could hear the howling of the wolf that had haunted her steps ever since she was a pup.

Obeya walked silently into the night. Her front left paw was still lame, her neck dripping with blood from the rope that hung heavily around her neck. She limped over into the woods and curled up under a dead uprooted tree. She closed her eyes and began to dream of being with her family once more.

10


End file.
